


The Spark

by sparkstoflames



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Pilot!Reader, Pining, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:47:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparkstoflames/pseuds/sparkstoflames
Summary: Poe doesn't get nervous. Then he meets her. Things change.
Relationships: BB-8 & Poe Dameron, Poe Dameron & Jessika Pava, Poe Dameron & Karé Kun, Poe Dameron & Leia Organa, Poe Dameron & Reader, Poe Dameron & Temmin "Snap" Wexley, Poe Dameron & You, Poe Dameron/Reader, Poe Dameron/You
Kudos: 47





	The Spark

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Okay this is my first Poe fic and I really hope you guys like it!! Feedback is super appreciated for this!! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! :)

Poe’s mind tended to wander on missions like these. They were gathering intel, heading to the planet Riosa in the Inner Rim. So the ride was peaceful. The old freighter they were on had managed to hold up, and was gliding through hyperspace with relative ease. So they had a few hours to kill, and it was just him, Pava, and _her._

_She_ was a new recruit. An old Corona Squadron Lieutenant from the Republic Navy. She was skilled, he’d known it from the moment he saw her test run in her new Resistance-issued X-wing. She knew how to fly, and from what he’d heard, was a damned good leader.

So if he was being honest, he wasn’t entirely sure why she was on this mission. It was last minute, originally only supposed to be him and Pava, but the General had insisted. And even if he was given the option, he could never say no to the General.

So now, they were on an old freighter, Poe simply hoping that it wouldn’t spontaneously give out halfway to their destination.

The hoping was a good distraction.

Because, if he was being completely truthful, she made him _nervous._ And he wasn’t the type of person to get nervous around anyone or anything. Force, he flew headfirst into the jaws of death almost every time he jumped into an X-wing. He didn’t have the time to be nervous.

But when he’d met her, it was a different story. She’d smiled at him, shook his hand with a lovely delicacy he wasn’t even sure he could describe.

_“Commander Dameron,”_ She’d said, _“It’s an honor to be working with you. I heard so much back in the Navy.”_

And he wasn’t sure what it was about that moment. Whether it was the way his last name sounded so pretty when it was in her voice, or if it was the way she titled her head, looking up at him through sparkling eyes.

He just couldn’t pinpoint it.

“Commander?” Jess’s voice came from next to him. She was curled in the co-pilot’s chair, knees up to her chest. He’d never know how she could be so comfortable like that. Poe hummed in response, turning his attention over to her.

“What’s got you so quiet?” She asked, but there was a smirk on her face, and he knew she was up to no good.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” He replied. She reached over, lightly hitting his shoulder with a fist.

“C’mon, Poe. It’s kinda obvious.” 

He raised an eyebrow at her, hoping she didn’t notice the split-second where his heart dropped.

She always did.

“It’s not like you to fall head-over-heels for a new recruit,” Her voice trailed off, and she glanced over her shoulder to look at the door. “And to be so _nervous-_ “

“Shut it, Pava.”

She put her hands up in surrender, smirk still plastered on her face.

“You got it, Commander.”

It was then when _she_ walked into the cockpit, almost like she could feel them talking about her.

“Hey, Lieutenant,” Pava said, turning around in her chair to look at her. Poe glanced back. He noticed her hair was down, falling around her face. He turned back around, hoping she didn’t see how his gaze lingered for a moment too long.

“Not a lieutenant anymore, Jess,” She replied, and he saw her lean on Pava’s chair in the corner of his eye. He glanced over.

“You two know each other?”

“We were in the same squadron in the Navy, joined around the same time too,” Pava answered.

“About a year after you left, Commander,” Y/n said. Poe raised his eyebrows.

“You’ve done your research.”

“It was all anyone talked about back there,” Pava groaned, “Dameron did this, Dameron did that, Dameron’s out there saving the galaxy.” She paused, smiling up at him for just a moment. “Eventually I had to check and see if they were true.”

He laughed, “How accurate were they?”

“The truth was incredibly underwhelming,” She deadpanned. The cockpit broke into laughter, and Poe heard _her_ laugh. And based on how his heart fluttered, the way his gaze lingered for a second too long on her smile, and how badly he wanted to hear it again, it had an effect on him. And he knew he was done for.

“Any rumors about me when I left?” Pava asked Y/n, turning in her chair to get a better look at her.

“Oh you know, just the usual. Jess must be chasing after Dameron and all that.” She turned, throwing a quick wink Poe’s way, and Jess scoffed, pushing Y/n away from her chair as her laughter burst through the room.

He could’ve sworn his heart stopped.

“Why don’t you grab a seat, we’re about to get out of hyperspace,” Poe said, and he watched as she moved to sit down behind him. He couldn’t help but feel an odd sense of pride that she had moved closer to him.

It’s a bit pathetic.

He brings them out of hyperdrive, and then they’re in front of Riosa. The planet is covered in factories, but with the recent aid from the Republic, they’ve been able to build up their economy, and with the growth of the new cities, came the growth of new First Order sympathizers.

It’s been a bit of a dangerous place ever since. He hopes the mission goes smoothly.

—————

They’re in a bar. Jess is sitting in a booth on her own, keeping her eyes out for anyone suspicious. Poe is next to Y/n, the two of them sitting in a booth on the other side of the bar, waiting for the informant to arrive.

And while they’re waiting, he tries not to notice how she looks. How she pulls her leather jacket closer to herself every time someone new walks into the bar, letting the chilly air from outside in. Her hair is still down, and every time she brings her hand up to push it out of her face he can’t help but feel his heart jump.

He’d ordered a Riosian Mead in the hope that it’d make them look less suspicious, but now it sits between them untouched. Frankly, he’s feeling a bit too jumpy to try and drink it.

“We should probably talk,” Y/n says, “Looks a little weird for the two of us to be sitting in silence.”

Poe hums, and then nods, “So, where’d you grow up?”

“Hosnian Prime, actually. Probably wasn’t the best place for a kid to grow up, but I loved it there.”

He nods again, and then there’s this sudden sadness in her voice.

“I saw a lot, you know? So I joined the Republic Navy and then-“ She pauses. “They didn’t do anything to help.”

“Trust me,” he says, “I get it.”

“What about you?” She asks. “Tell me everything,” She teases, and she lightly kicks his leg under the table. Poe smiles, clearing his throat to cover the way the smile takes over his face.

“I grew up on a small settlement on Yavin 4. Unlike Hosnian Prime, it was an amazing place to grow up-“ She laughed, lightly pushing his shoulder. That odd feeling of pride came back. “My parents were both in the alliance, and I learned to love flying from my mom.”

“That’s so sweet-“

Poe cut her off with a short wave of his hand, his eyes were trained on the door, there was a group of three Devaronian men, each of them with blasters on their hips. They were scanning the bar, looking for something.

“Is that…?” He let his eyes leave the door, and shook his head at her. Her eyes widened. “What’s happening?”

“I have a bad feeling about those guys,” Poe said, and he let himself steal another glance at them. He looked across the bar at Jess, whose eyes were wide. “We need to leave,” He finally answered.

He took a final glance at Y/n. “Act natural, keep talking to me, and don’t look at Jess,” He whispered.

“I know, Poe,” She replied, and so she rose, making her way out of the booth. Poe was quick to follow, still glancing up at the three men every so often.

“Tell me about your parents,” Poe said, his voice was nearing a whisper, hoping to not catch the attention of the men who were now making their way into the bar. He noticed that one of them kept his hand on his blaster. Y/n gave him an odd look, but spoke anyway.

“My dad was a businessman, pretty normal stuff. My mom spent some time as a medic but pretty much just stayed at home after I came along.”

They were nearing the men, Poe noted the top of the First Order insignia on one of their wrists, just barely peaking out from under his sleeve.

“Did you ever consider being a medic?” Poe pulled his eyes away from them, instead turning to Y/n to distract himself.

Turned out _she_ made for a pretty good distractor, too.

“Never really considered it,” She admitted, “It’s always been flying.”

They made it past the men, and they were nearing the door when Poe heard one of them speak.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Poe turned to see one of them, with a green tint to his skin and large horns, with a hand on Jess’s arm.

_Force, Jess._

“I was just leaving, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble,” She replied. Poe’s hand lingered on the blaster on his hip. The man holding Jess glanced at the other two, then his eyes trailed down to Jess’s hip, where her blaster sat.

“What’s a girl like you doing with that?” The man pointed towards the blaster, and Poe could see Jess curse herself for just a moment.

“It’s dangerous out here. Never know when you’ll need it.”

“You know how to use it?” He asked.

“Sure do.” With one swift movement, Jess pulled her arm out of the grasp of the man and pulled out her blaster, pointing it towards the one who grabbed her. At the same moment, Poe and Y/n stepped closer, each pointing their blasters to a different man in the group.

Jess stepped backwards, coming closer to Poe and Y/n.

“So, if you don’t mind,” Jess began, “I’ll be heading out. Hope I didn’t cause any trouble.” Jess spared a look at the two of them, and with that they all rushed out the door, flying past people to make their way to their freighter.

“What about the-“ Y/n started, but Poe cut her off.

“Information doesn’t do us any good if we’re all too dead to get it back.”

They all turned a corner, and finally slowed down to a walking pace, each trying to catch their breath with every step.

“Well, I’d say that was successful,” Jess said. Poe rolled his eyes.

“Force, Pava,” He began, “You really have to cause a scene everywhere we go?”

Jess just shrugged. “It’s my signature move.”

Y/n laughed, and Poe had to stop himself from staring. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the fact that he’d just seen her with a blaster and for some reason that was _very_ distracting, or that she wasn’t just a new recruit anymore, but someone with history and a family and someone that knew part of _his_ history. But after that, there was something different about her.

He still couldn’t pinpoint it.

“Well,” Poe said, turning to her as they finally reached their freighter, “how was that for a first mission?”

“A bit crazier than the Navy,” She replied earnestly. He smiled, turning to her as they entered the ship.

“Welcome to the Resistance.”

—————

When they returned to D’Qar, it was clear that General Organa was less than impressed with the result of the mission. But she understood, and now they knew the prevalence of First Order sympathizers on Riosa, so the mission wasn’t _completely_ useless.

“Poe,” She’d said at the end of the debriefing, “stay for a moment.”

Poe nodded, watching as Jess and Y/n left. HIs attention then turned back to Leia, who smiled up at him.

“So how’s the new recruit?” She asked.

“She’s skilled, General. Knows her stuff, and very capable during missions. She’s quick to react, and seems to meld well with teams.”

Leia nodded as he spoke. “How do you think she’d do on Black Squadron?”

He felt his heart jump.

“I think she’d excel at her job.”

Leia smiled, putting her arm on his shoulder.

“Then why don’t you go tell her the news, Commander.”

Poe smiled back at Leia, bringing a hand up to cover hers.

“Of course, General.”

Leia laughed as he left the room, yelling something about how he needed to stop the formalities after him.

Poe figured he’d find her the mess hall, so he was quick to head there. His eyes caught Jess’s, and soon enough, he found her as well. She was sitting with the rest of his squadron, animatedly telling some story. Jess would chime in every now and then, waving her hand nonchalantly as she spoke.

He figured she’d fit just fine.

Poe came up behind Snap, leaning onto his shoulders.

“I see you’ve all met the newest member of Black Squadron,” Poe said, and he glanced over at Y/n, giving her a quick wink. And then she was beaming, her smile bright as she looked at Poe.

His heart fluttered.

But it didn’t last for long, because after only seconds, the team was cheering for her. Jess bumped her shoulders with her, Snap high-fived and grabbed her hand, his deep laughter making Poe shake. Karé wrapped her arms around her, and soon enough she’d been congratulated by the entire squadron.

They made eye contact for just another moment.

“Thank you,” She mouthed. Poe smiled, he was glad to have her on the team.

She’d fit right in.


End file.
